Look At Me

I enjoyed Look At Me by Jennifer Egan which is set in the city of New York and also Illinois in the 1990s.  Charlotte, the main character, is a New York model in her early 30s and has a serious car accident on her way to her home town of Rockford in Illinois.  She undergoes plastic surgery to repair her face but it is unrecognisable from her previous look.  Her work dries up and she is desperate to find something to do with her new life.  Another character, Moose, lives in Rockford and is a complex character who is a teacher shunned by his fellow academics because of an incident in his past.  Then there is a teenager, also named Charlotte, who has a relationship with a teacher who is connected to the model Charlotte.  The story examines the extremes people will go to fulfill their dreams and make money - quite disturbing.  There are references to terrorism as one mysterious chameleon character plots against America.  The author points out this story was written before 9/11 (republished on the back of the success of "A Visit From the Goon Squad").  The characters are very well described as we jump from one to another, first person, third person etc.  Well written. 4/5